180 SECRETS OF ANIMAL LIFE 
Bernard’s view that vital activity is wholly sus- 
pended, for why should there be a limit, if this be 
so? It is quite likely, however, that the limit 
is determined not by the potency of the essential 
protoplasm, but by the endurance of the colloidal 
substratum—the furnishings of the chemical 
laboratory. The spring of the stopped watch might 
in the course of time undergo some molecular change 
which robbed it of its elasticity, so that no shake 
would set the works going again. Something analo- 
gous may occur in the desiccated organism. 
The recent experiments clearly show that subjec- 
tion to conditions utterly hostile to the persistence 
of the most attenuated of vital processes or metabo- 
lism is not necessarily fatal. Macquenne kept 
parsnip seeds for two years in a vacuum, and 
made them as dry as dry could be, yet they were 
still able to germinate. Indeed, they retained their 
sprouting power for a much longer time than con- 
trol seeds kept in the open air. The same conclusion 
is suggested by similar experiments made by Bec- 
querel and also by the results of subjecting seeds 
to very low temperatures. Using the refrigerat- 
ing laboratory or “cryogen” of M. Kammerlingh 
Onnes at Leyden, he subjected naked seeds of 
lucerne, mustard, and wheat for three weeks to the 
temperature of liquid air, and then for seventy- 
seven hours to that of liquid hydrogen at 250° 
below zero. The seeds were then put into a vacuum 
for a year. Under the combined influence of low 
temperature and desiccation, the protoplasm lost 
